Uninsured Rate Stagnates at Six-year Low

 The steeply declining percentage of Americans without health insurance plateaued in the second quarter of 2014, but the rate continues to be the lowest ever recorded by Gallup. In the first quarter of the year, Gallup found that 13.4 percent of U.S. adults had no health insurance. That was down from the 18 percent high in 2013 recorded by Gallup. In this year’s second quarter, however, the rate remained unchanged at 13.4 percent.

The rate has dropped by 3.7 percent just since the fourth quarter of 2013, Gallup said.

“The stability in the uninsured rate between the second and third quarters is not unexpected because the health insurance exchanges were not taking new enrollments during that time,” said Gallup in the report.

Key findings of the survey include:

• Since the end of 2013, the uninsured rate has dropped most in the West (4.8 points), from 18.7 percent to 13.9 percent.
• In the Midwest and South, the uninsured rates have also dropped significantly, 3.9 and 3.4 points, respectively.
• The South continues to maintain the highest uninsured population among the four regions, with 17 percent uninsured.
• The Northeast has also had a steady decline in its uninsured rate since the end of 2013, dropping from 12.5 percent to 9.8 percent.
• The uninsured rates in the Northeast and Midwest are the lowest recorded of any region since the first quarter of 2013.
• Americans aged 26 to 34 remain the most likely to be uninsured, at 23.7 percent.